


The Lighthouse Keeper

by erosandhades



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Cute, Fantasy AU, Fluff, M/M, Song fic, THIS IS SOOOO SOFT, little bit of angst but just a tiny bit, neil merman, siren and fisherman au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27692549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erosandhades/pseuds/erosandhades
Summary: When you set sail on your journey and happiness is far awayLove will guide you til' the morning, lead your heart down to the bayDon’t resist the rain and storm, I’ll never leave you lost at seaI will be your lighthouse keeper, bring you safely home to me(The Lighthouse Keeper by Sam Smith)Or in which Neil loves Andrew from far away until he doesn't anymore.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 4
Kudos: 101





	The Lighthouse Keeper

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> Yeah, I know my longfic's chapter is late and here I am with another fic. But what can I say? This one literally came to me in a time I was so, so, so fucking sad, and writing this made me happier, because this song (The Lighthouse Keeper by Sam Smith) is so fucking beautiful and it made me feel instantly better as I listened to it and wrote something on those lines. So, here I am, with the intent of sharing this little bit of happiness with you.
> 
> Go listen to this song before you read this, I think it might establish better the vibe... And it's fucking worth it.
> 
> And last, but not least, here goes a shout out to my beta, moonqueerdom, for correcting this and hyping me up. I love you.
> 
> Hope you all like it!

_ Build yourself a boat, babe _

_ Make yourself a sail _

_ Float into the ocean _

_ To nowhere _

Neil watched as Andrew cut the wood again and again. Repetitive motions making his skin glisten with sweat and pain as he tried and tried and tried. He sometimes got the shape right, though, and that always made him smile. Neil smiled too.

He watched from afar as the boat Andrew was making glued itself together little by little. Screw by screw. It was heavy work but his Andrew never shied away from tough work. Never.

_ Yeah I see you looking _

_ Looking for a sign _

_ Praying for a beacon _

_ So here’s the light _

Andrew was lost. He fucking knew it would happen. Since he got the idea of building that stupid boat and start to fish for a living, he knew that was a possibility. He felt the calling, though, deep and piercing on his soul, and he didn’t care about the risks anymore. He kept on, and now he was fucking lost, the wind and the clouds a mess in the sky, announcing a storm that would probably kill him in the blinking of an eye.

Hopelessness filled his heart. He counted the thumps of his heart as it still beats. 

_ One _ . He wouldn’t search for a sign, a way out. There was no way out. _ Two. _ He was too far away from the shore to even look for a lighthouse. There was no way out.  _ Three _ . At least he would die at sea, where his heart sang and his soul awakened from their numbness on the land. Where he felt the calling on his veins, a satisfied breath after a whole life suffocating.  _ Four. _

There was a light.

How could there be a light in the middle of the sea? It was far away, trembling, and from a direction, Andrew had never been before.

He didn’t think twice, though. He let the mysterious light guide him to safe waters. There was a way out.

_ My arms will be wide open _

_ For the moment you arrive, arrive _

Neil had everything prepared. It was a little island and he couldn’t do much, but still, he did his best. The little cabin was filled with food, canned and fresh, and there was wood for the fireplace. The sheets were washed and everything was in its place. It was not much, but it would do.

Andrew would soon arrive in his little boat, and the cabin needed to be good so he could spend the storm safely for the days to come. It was going to be a terrible storm, so of course, Neil needed to help him. Even if silently.

When he heard steps on the sand outside, Neil slid out quietly through the back door.

He quickly made his way around the house, and let Andrew make his acquaintance with it as it would be his shelter for the next few days to come.

“Hello? Is there anyone in here?” He heard Andrew’s gruff voice say from the inside. It was a beautiful voice. A shrill went down Neil’s spine. He heard it only a handful of times but it was his favorite voice in the world.

He couldn’t linger, though. So Neil ran and soon he was back in the sea.

_ When you set sail on your journey and happiness is far away _

_ Love will guide you till the morning, lead your heart down to the bay _

_ Don’t resist the rain and storm, I’ll never leave you lost at sea _

_ I will be your lighthouse keeper, bring you safely home to me _

_ I will be your lighthouse keeper, bring you safely home  _

Andrew’s days were filled with water and salt. From the sea, from the fish, from the tears. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had cried before this fishing trip, but something about the loneliness of the waves ignited the dark cave that was his heart. It was a candlelight burn, but it was more than he had felt in years. Unfortunately, though, what he felt was nothing good.

Pure and dark hopelessness filled him. It was just like that day he had been lost, except that this time there was no light to guide him. There were no dreams of red hair and blue eyes, gently caressing his forehead. There wasn’t a way to call any of his family, who he had left in a rush, with no goodbyes. There was nothing he could do besides feel full till his guts throbbed with a feeling of sadness and tiredness.

He felt so tired.

When he slept that night, he dreamed again of the red hair and blue eyes. It whispered something between full pink lips.

_ Come to me, Andrew. Remember the good. Sail west and let my love guide you. I’ll be with you every step of the way. _

The creature repeated that with light kisses on his face, and soon, the darkness faded away. His light had come back.

In the morning, he still felt the touch and the tenderness. He felt the love. He felt the candlelight bursting with something else. It was more powerful now. Like a lighthouse. Like the one that had guided him to that little island, lost to the maps, all those weeks ago.

He sailed west. He sailed back to the little island.

And every time that his journey seemed too dark to handle, the red hair and blue-eyed creature came back in his dreams to ignite and guide him again. Like a lighthouse.

_ Let my love guide you. _

_ Yeah I see you lonely _

_ Going it alone _

_ Fire up the engine _

_ And stroke the coal _

_ Floating on a feeling _

_ Fighting with the tide _

_ Hoping you’ll be home for _

_ Christmas time _

Neil was between the waves and only his eyes were on the surface. Andrew was grumbling and tromping through the deck, keeping his little boat running and managing the engines with what seemed to be pure spite. At least the fire was back in his eyes, and Neil thanked the Goddess for this miracle, as he remembered the days in which Andrew seemed so hollow and so ready to burst. The days in which Andrew looked at the sea with a wistful look that sent shivers through Neil’s spine in a  _ not good at all way.  _

Andrew was trying, though. He fought every storm bravely, and Neil helped as well as he could from the tides. He was trying so hard and Neil was so proud of him that his heart could almost burst with it. 

Andrew was almost there. In a week’s time, he would arrive on Neil’s island again, and Neil would finally introduce himself. He felt finally ready for that now and he thought that Andrew seemed ready for that too. So they would talk, and maybe Andrew wouldn’t be repulsed and run away after he learns the truth. Maybe, Andrew would even like him enough to stay for a couple of days. Or maybe, we would allow Neil to accompany him on his trips. They could be friends, even if Neil’s heart wanted more.

He could only hope, as he watched Andrew’s blond hair, long due to the months at sea, flying with the wind and blocking Andrew’s vision, that Andrew would arrive soon. Just in time for Christmas. Just in time for Saturnalia and his extended time with human legs.

Just in time for Neil to be able to receive him.

_ My arms will be wide open _

_ For the moment you arrive, arrive _

Red hair and blue eyes was real.

Andrew blinked stupidly at the beautiful man in front of him.

Andrew had passed the last month sailing west because of the man before him. The calling on his chest finally quieted down to a small chanting, and he felt so content that he almost raised his hand to his forehead so he could feel his temperature. This needed to be due to a fever. A hallucination. A side effect of the drugs he had dropped years ago. A pipe dream.

The man before him, barefoot on the sand of the little island, the same cabin from months ago where Andrew had started to dream of him behind the man, blinked and fidgeted with nervousness. He had been there when Andrew arrived in the middle of the night. When he arrived at the destiny of his dream’s directions. When he followed the light of the little lighthouse at the end of the tallest cliff of the little island. When he parked his boat on the white sand, the moon and the lighthouse were the only things that gave light for him to see, that is, until he touched the sand, and now both of them could never hope to shine as bright as the blue eyes before him.

Andrew took a step forward. And another. And another. He walked slowly till the man, who now was wide-eyed but still in the sand, was only a step away from him. 

Andrew raised his hand and stopped just shy from touching the man’s cheek.

“Who are you?” Andrew whispered in wonder.

“My name is Neil,” the man whispered back and smiled gently, filling Andrew with the same tenderness as it had done in his dreams. “I'm the lighthouse keeper.”

Andrew had never felt so at home as he did with the lighthouse keeper.

_ When you set sail on your journey and happiness is far away _

_ Love will guide you till the morning, lead your heart down to the bay _

_ Don’t resist the rain and storm, I’ll never leave you lost at sea _

_ I will be your lighthouse keeper, bring you safely home to me _

_ I will be your lighthouse keeper, bring you safely home to me _

Neil watched as Andrew finished up tidying the boat for the long travel. This one would be especially long since Andrew wanted to come back to the continent to see his family, so he had been fussing around the supplies for the last few weeks so the inevitable storms on the way were manageable even without Neil’s powers. Since they realized his limited time at the sea limited his powers as well, they had been using it more wisely, and Andrew was going nuts with the preparations because of it. Which was totally unnecessary in Neil’s point of view.

“It's going to be fine,” Neil rolled his eyes as he said for the fortieth time. 

Andrew ignored him for the fortieth time.

“Babe,” Neil sighed as he jumped from the sand and climbed the wood of the boat, managing to get on the deck right behind Andrew. He was getting better at using his legs, the years of his routine of running the perimeter of the isle helping a great deal. “You need to relax,” he put his hands on Andrew’s shoulders, which were tense. Andrew relaxed under his touch but didn’t turn. Neil began to pressure the knots on the muscles. “It will be fine. You contacted them days ago and they are waiting for us. The weather is clear for the next week, and if it’s not, I can always go down and ask Kevin for help.”

Andrew grumbled and turned around with a frown on his face. 

“You know how I feel about Kevin.”

Neil’s face broke into a smile. Kevin and Andrew’s relationship was like a too mature apple: looked gross from the outside, but on the inside it was very sweet. They poked each other and riled each other up, but Neil knew Andrew was grateful for Kevin keeping an eye on him when they were under the water. And Kevin was grateful for Andrew for making Neil happy. They had a respect-you-but-you-irritate-me kind of relationship that was adorable. Neil always had fun when Kevin came to visit.

“And you know how a valuable merman, and friend, Kevin is,” Neil answered with a grin before making his expression turn more somber. “There is nothing wrong with asking for help. I was helping you before you even knew me and look where it got us.”

Andrew’s expression softened at that, because it was true. Since the first time Neil had seen Andrew, working at the restaurant at the marine of his birth city, Eden’s, on his first-ever visit to the continent, Neil had felt driven to the young man with bright hair and dark eyes. He felt akin to his loneliness. He felt the sea thrumming on Andrew’s veins, and he wondered if Andrew felt that too. So, for two years, he stayed put, something he had never done before in his life, and observed Andrew. He helped where he could, to make Andrew’s life easier, and by the time Andrew stopped fighting the sea calling for him and decided to become a fisherman, Neil was already irrevocably in love.

“Yeah, I know,” Andrew’s face broke into a teasing smile. “Stalker.”

Neil rolled his eyes but laughed nonetheless. They had that same discussion for the last three years they had met on that same island, especially after they had finally become a couple-three months later, and it wasn’t now that he was going to change it.

“Will you still be here when I come back from the lighthouse? I need to make sure everything’s good before we leave,” Neil asked, his hand still kneading the tense muscles of Andrew’s shoulders.

“Of course,” Andrew pushed his long hair out of his hazel eyes, both lighter from months in the sun. Neil still was amazed by how breathtakingly beautiful Andrew was. “I need my lighthouse keeper with me, don’t I?”

And they both laughed because they both knew Neil was much more than a lighthouse keeper, just like Andrew was much more than a fisherman.

As Neil inclined himself for a soft kiss on Andrew’s lips, he sighed with happiness.

For Andrew, Neil was a merman, and the light of his darkest and quietest storms. For Neil, Andrew was a quiet man, with the sea thrumming wildly on his skin for reasons they still didn’t know, and the calm that made Neil want to stay. 

Mostly though, they were each other’s home. And not even the sea, the storms, or the Goddess could ever change that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this!
> 
> Share your thoughts on the comments and I would really appreciate some kudos!!! Give them to meeeee! 
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr by jostenrun and on twitter by @sunabram and I have a NathanielAU BDSM longfic for AFTG as well being updated as regularly as I can manage called TANTRUM, so if you are by any means interested in that, please go check it out!
> 
> See you all next time!


End file.
